Sunday's COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health includes 44 new deaths and more than 2,100 new cases.

The newly reported deaths bring the state's total to 5,707 over the course of the pandemic, of which 64% (3,653) were residents of long-term care, including 27 of the 44 reported Sunday.

Minnesota on Saturday evening confirmed the first five cases of the U.K. based mutant variant of COVID-19, with residents in four Twin Cities counties testing positive for the B.1.1.7. variant after falling ill between Dec. 16-31.

Meanwhile, the state reported Sunday that 132,280 people have been vaccinated with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The state has received 396,350 doses.

Hospitalizations

Hospital admissions are not updated on weekends.

Through Jan. 7, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 759, which is down from 787 reported on Jan. 6. It's the lowest number of COVID admissions since Nov. 1.

Of those hospitalized, 130 (down from 135) were in intensive care, and 629 (down from 652) were receiving non-ICU treatment. It's the fewest COVID-19 patients in intensive care in Minnesota since Oct. 15.

Statewide, there were 150 staffed ICU beds available. During the November surge the state had fewer than 100 staffed ICU beds available.

Testing and positivity rates

The 2,159 positive results in Saturday's update were from a total of 40,189 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 5.37%.

According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota's test positivity rate over the past seven days is 6.70%, which is trending back up this week.

The World Health Organization recommends that a percent positive rate (total positives divided by total completed tests) of below 5% for at least two weeks is necessary to safely reopen the economy. That 5% threshold is based on total positives divided by total tests.

Coronavirus in Minnesota by the numbers

• Total tests: 5,935,902 (up from 5,895,442)
• People tested: 3,082,747 (up from 3,067,884)
• Positive cases: 436,572 (up from 434,413)
• Deaths: 5,707 – 201 of which are "probable*" (up from 5,663)
• Patients no longer requiring isolation: 414,756 (up from 412,546)
• Total people vaccinated: 132,280 (up from 119,744)

* Probable deaths are patients who died after testing positive using the COVID-19 antigen test, which is thought to be less accurate than the more common PCR test.